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The world awoke on April 7, 2006 to another myth being torn down. According to a team of researchers responsible for the restoration, authentication and translation of “The Book of Jude,” Jude did not betray Jesus. To be turned in to the authorities and then crucified was actually part of His divine plan.

There is one word mentioned in the global news published on this discovery that will likely pass unnoticed to most people: translation.

A group of ancient language scholars was responsible for translating this written document into a Coptic language. The original translation was performed by an unknown author who translated it into Greek around 180 A.D.

I was thrilled to see my occupation mentioned on the first page. It’s not everyday that people remember us! =)

However, a feeling of apprehension soon overtook me when I began to contemplate the importance of these people’s work and the responsibility it involved. OK, so we are not exactly hired to translate archaeological discoveries that have the power to change the face of history. But come to think of it, we perform some very important work everyday.

Whether it’s an equipment manual or a love letter, the translator will transform the content from a language that the reader does not master (or has absolutely no knowledge of) to another language that the reader is able to understand. The quality of the translator’s work will determine whether or not the user is able to operate the equipment or, in the case of a love letter, it can unite two people or tear them apart forever.

May all translators be conscious of the power they have and the responsibility that comes along with this. May they also use this power in the best possible way…

Quick task: Name someone who has NEVER worked with subtitling, is completely clueless about the process involved but loves to criticize subtitles in foreign movies and TV series. Well, I don’t know who came to your mind, but I certainly fit the description… Hahaha!

I just love to watch the US sitcom Friends, and even bought all the DVDs of the series. I can never forget an episode about “Paul, the wine guy,” someone Monica was going out with. After hearing the expression “Paul, the wine guy” over and over, Phoebe comes up with “Does that mean that he sells it, drinks it, or complains a lot?” You’re probably wondering about the translation, right? Here you go: “Isso significa que ele vende, bebe ou reclama demais?” Obviously, this kind of play on words (wine X whine) is completely lost in Portuguese; and no matter how awful I found the translation to be, I still could not think of a better one.

I know some people who have experience in subtitling and I am quite aware of how tough it is to juggle with time management, character limitation, synchronization and the jokes that only work in English! Especially when it comes to US sitcoms…

Sorry, no English translation for this post.
It is about some idiosyncrasies of the Portuguese language.
Click here if you would like to read it in Portuguese.

Has your client asked you to translate something in European Portuguese, or even to “review” a European Portuguese text into Brazilian Portuguese? He may have asked you whether it is the same thing to translate a text in one language or the other. Mine has done that as well. I’ll briefly point out here some of the reasons why it is virtually impossible for Brazilians to work with European Portuguese texts and vice-versa.

Phonetically speaking, here in Brazil, we pronounce all vowels to the fullest, whether they are stressed or not. In Portugal, there is a tendency to pronounce only the stressed vowels. But what is more important in our case are the differences in meaning and syntax.

In Brazil, we prefer to use the gerund (e.g. “Estamos trabalhando” when one wants to say, “We are working”). The Portuguese however prefer the infinitive form (“Estamos a trabalhar,” when they want to say the same thing). In Brazil, we use the pronoun “você” for the second person singular; in Portugal, the pronoun “vos” is generally more used. In a sentence like “If I read to you,” you would hear “Se eu lesse para você” in Brazil and “Se eu vos lesse” in Portugal.

Here, the expression “falar consigo” means speaking to oneself, while in Portugal it means speaking to you. It is quite common there to use the comparative form “mais pequeno” (smaller), while in Brazil the grammatically correct comparative form “menor.”

Mute consonants were mostly eliminated in Brazil yet are still widely used in Portugal. Words like “ação” (action) and “ótimo’ (great), for instance, are written as “acção” and “óptimo” in Portugal. The umlaut is still used in Brazil to mark the pronunciation of the “u” in diphthongs, examples of which are words like “lingüiça” (sausage) and “freqüência” (frequency). Only in Brazil.

Stressing is also different in both countries because of the pronunciation: while in Brazil, we write “tônico” (tonic) and “cômodo” (comfortable), in Portugal it is written as “tónico” and “cómodo” with an open “o.”

There are also many differences in meaning. The ocean between us has developed several semantic differences, making each language increasingly distinct. In Portugal, a “bicha enorme” is nothing more than a large queue. In Brazil, however, one would think that you are talking about a very tall gay man.

Do speakers in Brazil and Portugal understand each other? No doubt. Do they want to read in each other’s variant? I don’t think so!

For more information on this topic, I suggest reading Fabiano Cid’s article published in an early edition of the Ccaps Newsletter: Nice country; I’ll take it

The more the time passes, the more I convince myself that people in general know little – or nothing at all – about the type of work a language professional does. In Brazil, translation is undervalued, since the general – and totally mistaken – belief is that “in order to translate, one merely has to know a foreign language and culture.” This is why I have decided to write this small text for our corporative blog. I will try to trace back my steps in Liberal Arts course, pointing out what I consider to be the highlights of what it means to be a language professional – everything I have learned (or not) and what I have brought as life experience. I have tried to condense this in 10 small topics.

A nice image from a Carnegie Report article on Liberal Arts

1- Linguistics is the Math part in a Language Graduate Course

One of the first subjects I had to undertake in college was Linguistics 101. It’s quite an interesting subject, for it opens the student’s eyes to language rationale: how do languages work? Do people with poor education speak in a wrong way? How do we acquire the language faculty? What does it mean to master a language? All these questions, combined with several new, fundamental concepts, helped me understand my field of work from a scientific point of view (the science of language). It also contributed for the elimination of many wrong laymen ideas about the subject, such as “people only speak ‘good Portuguese’ in Europe,” or “people who don’t follow grammar rules are stupid.” I must say, however, that studying all that was tough: I had to master a great amount of content right in the first term.

2- Writing is an art you learn; writing well is a gift you improve

There is no escape. Anyone who attempts to undertake a language course in college has to write tons of texts. And this particular work becomes a lot easier if you are an experienced traveler in the roads of letters. Although I had many subjects that focused on the improvement of writing skills, I could not help but notice that some previous knowledge and master in writing techniques is crucial to make the course easier. It is also half way through when it comes to taking up a career as a translator. Nevertheless, from what I could observe in many of my classmates, writing is something you teach, yeah, I give you that. But writing well, mastering the language… oh, this is something far more difficult; the person must have some sort of innate skills to write. One must have an enhanced linguistic rationale, as if he or she had been born to use language capabilities thoroughly.

3- English: show me what you got

How much English knowledge is needed to undertake a bilingual Liberal Arts course? Roughly speaking, none whatsoever. Most courses have a leveling process, consisting of subjects aimed at teaching the language, something close to an English course. However, to become a translator, or even to do better in the course as a whole, the student should master the language in every possible way (writing, speaking, listening and reading skills). This is extremely important, especially because you will be so occupied in studying new concepts that you will have little or no time to dedicate yourself fully to learn the language. It is better to enter the course being aware of this. The amount of knowledge is also an essential aspect. To be a good translator, the student should start the course knowing how to write good essays, having a decent vocabulary and showing above-average written and oral production. In other words: if you are the type of person who is capable of understanding everything that is said in an American sitcom, without reading the subtitles, or if you can get the lyrics only by hearing the songs by artists like Michae Jackson, you are in the right track.

That’s it for now. On the next post, I intend to discuss things I have learned in translation subjects. See you next time!